Is anyone else disappointed with the air fryer?

[NotElizabethBennet]

It's just too small to be of any use, and the temperatures seem to be a bit off ie everything gets done very well, very fast regardless of what heat I put it on.

It does things like nuggets ok, and chips have been fine, but again, you can only do such a tiny amount in it, I can't really see how it's any good for more than 1 person.

I have friends who swear by it and say they've not had the oven on since they got it, but I don't understand how. There's four of us and I can't see how I could do anything other than a side veg in it and it be enough.

Anyone else? Or is it just me? :D

I've got the ninja air fryer/ grill thing.
I cook a whole chicken in it and then while it was resting I did the potatoes.
You need a bigger one !

I love mine, I use it all summer. I don’t even turn the oven on as it heats up the house too much. But there’s only two of us so it’s perfect.

I can get a whole chicken and potatoes on mine. It depends what you get and you do need to adjust temps and times which takes some getting used to however I've never used my oven since getting ours in April. The only thing I can't fit in is whole pizzas but not really fussed about shop bought pizza anyway so we just don't have them anymore. Sounds like you need a bigger one.

Oh and re your salmon mine found easily fit six fillets then baby potatoes on the bottom. If you don't want it too crispy the steam roast function on mine gives you delicious salmon and potatoes that don't have the fried/roast finish

Sounds like a PITA

I have one, and as far as appliances go, I think they take up a lot of space. Quite ugly too. I find it useful, clean and quick.

BUT, I only bought it because DH works away and adult DC have left home, so for a single person it’s very useful and quick.

If I want to cook in the oven, something that is genuinely better cooked there such as a rich, long slow cooked casserole, then I will cook it in a large quantity and freeze the excess.

I like mine, it’s a Tefal 4.2L capacity so it’s quite small. I only use it for snacks, tried a toasted sandwich in it yesterday and it was so good. It came out lovely and crisp.

Totally. If you already have an instant pot then you don’t need to be sold the benefits of a slow cooker. But e.g. I am going to roast a chicken later. Will pressure cook for 20 minutes with the potatoes under the trivet, will then put the potatoes in the oven because they realy don’t roast well in an air frier, then I will put the chicken back in the IP on the roast setting for another 20 minutes, remove, and while it rests I will make the gravy on the sautée function.

The air frier bit wouldn’t cook effectively for more than a couple of people but there’s usually only just me anyway or me and dp/ds. It’s good for cooking things like sausages, bacon, fish fingers, fish fillets etc.

I don't know why pressure cookers don't get more attention.

sold the benefits of a pressure cooker*

But for the posters telling the OP she has one which is too small and talking about how their 2 drawer one is that much better etc. if you have a ninja you’re not actually saving money, because you’ve shelled out £££ for the air frier, so any money you might have saved cooking in the air frier instead of the oven has been spent on acquiring the air frier.

If you already have an air frier, then you would want to use it to save on energy. But if you don’t, then it’s not actually worth going out and buying one.

So many of these energy saving tips are a false economy: buy a microwave; buy a heated throw; get an electric blanket; get an air frier, by which time you’ve spent what might have been your increased gas and electric bill on stuff to save on your gas and electric bill.

Yes, ours wasn't bought for energy savings, just for convenience!

Yes of course you need to offset the spend against the savings. Just like Boris with his ‘get a new kettle and in 5 years you will have saved enough money to pay for it’

However, I don’t know anyone who got it purely for energy saving. It’s just giving them that as an extra benefit. I got my ninja to save time and so I don’t have to keep checking things. I am currently undergoing assessment for adhd. If I am cooking in the oven I have to stay in the kitchen to have any hope of not forgetting food is there. If I cook bacon for ds on a morning, I can put it in and go do another job to get ready for work and come back to it. I can put sweet potatoes in both sides, set the timer and go off and when they are done they are done. Can’t tell you the amount of time I have burnt and wasted food because I forgot it was in the oven.

Also, our electric oven takes ages to warm up. So it’s using energy for a good 10 mins before it’s to temperature. Then the oven takes longer to cook. So for nuggets and chips the over is on 30 mins vs 10-12 mins in the air fryer. It’s also easier for the kids to use ds, does more cooking and baking since we got it.

My dad got one because he has a huge range gas cooker. Mum picked it and loved it and was very much into baking so used it all the time. But she died. Dad bought an air fryer and uses that where possible as he is now just cooking for one. It’s not for energy saving. He just finds it more convenient. also as it’s sat in the side it’s easier for him to mange has he has a bad back. Rather than bending down to the oven.

But then getting a small one, even if cheap is a complete waste of money. Because you won’t use it.

I bought one partly to save money on energy but also because our main oven is quite small so it's handy to have an extra cooking space when we have people over.

I have a 12l Daewoo which is like an extra mini oven with 3 trays. Dd2 managed to cook enough chips for her and 7 friends in it. Plus it has a rotisserie which produces chicken that is far better than the oven. It's also cleaner and cheaper for cooking bacon and sausages.

Family of 4 and I use it regularly. Not as an oven replacement though. I deep fry food before stir frying. It’s so much cleaner than a wok of oil.

Thing is though “get an air frier” is one of the things being advised to people when talking about energy saving. They put out statements like “an air frier will cost you £x less than an oven, and people latch on to that and go out and buy either a ridiculously cheap and small air frer which is pretty useless and not energy efficient at all because you have to cook several batches of whatever to feed your family by which time you might as well have used the oven, or they buy a hideously expensive or, which while it is big enough to feed the family, hasn’t saved you money.

The bigger air friers are virtually impossible to come by now. Even the qvc one had gone before the email went out at 7. It’s not just their popularity which is driving this, it’s the belief in energy saving.

I bought my instant pot duo crisp mostly for convenience because I’ve just gone back to work and am at home on my own most of the time so it’s convenient. But I was almost tempted into buying a microwave earlier when I saw the bbc article about how to save money and how much less a microwave costs to run. And then thought better of it. But it’s easy to see how people are drawn into that mindset.

I bought a multicooker and find the pressure cooker function far more useful than the air fryer. I'm glad it can air fry and I do use it, but I wouldn't have bought a stand alone air fryer.

The pressure cooker's already been on this morning doing some dried chickpeas for a batch of houmous

They are energy saving. It’s not incorrect to suggest they are.

I very much doubt many people hear ‘energy saving’ and don’t think about the layout cost. I think assuming large amounts of people don’t realise it’s costing them money up front.

The popularity is for a lot of reasons, they were that easy to get hold of earlier in the year when I got mine. Yes it maybe energy saving, in part that’s driving it. Because people are think about long term energy saving vs the initial layout. i very much doubt anyone thinks it’s going to save £400 in energy in a month.

and anyone knows that buying something that doesn’t suit you household would be a waste of money. It’s like buying 2 seater electric car when you have a family of 5 to try and save money on petrol.

You almost bought a microwave, but didn’t. Because you thought about. Like most people will.

Sounds like the one you have is too small. There's bigger ones. But I haven't found anything very good in it besides chops, nuggets and spring rolls. Even those I prefer to do in the deep fryer but will use the air fryer if the deep fryer isn't set up. Haven't found much we like outside of what we'd normally deep fry.

@WTF1974

Can't help you with chips I'm afraid as DH insists on deep frying them.

Aw, I'll just have to keep practising then - not sure the waistline will be happy though🤣

It's a good air fryer isn't it? Much more versatile than just having a basket!

Can you tell me what you used your halogen oven for? I have been given one but don’t know what to do with it.

I've been reading all the air fryer posts as I've been tempted, but this has kind of cemented my hunch that it just wouldn't be worth it for us. Our kitchen is teeny, so there's no place for it to go, plus I'm a batch cooking fiend so always fill the oven when i put it on anyway. I think it would be different if I had kids eating at different times, I really see the use for hungry teens and their bottomless stomachs!

@MayThe4th They are MUCH more cost effective. I listened to a segment on radio 2 the other day- they had an economist on talking about ways to save energy when cooking. He’d collected data on it all and you earn back the air fryer super quick by saving on energy bills, one woman worked our she’d earned hers back in 1 weeks, most people within 1-2 months.

microwaves and air fryers can be 50-80% better energy wise than ovens and hobs. So it makes financial sense to get these appliances. He’d stopped using his oven which was very telling.

I may still get one. Dh was keen. I want a humongous one though, ninja 9L at least. I need it to be big to do volume, big batches. I'd need a big chicken, 2 teens who eat huge amounts. Today I pulled my slow cooker out of the cupboard to make sausage casserole - 12 sausages. When I batch cook meatballs for spaghetti and meatballs I normally do 72, 6 packs of 12.